"She's quite evil, is desperate for a man, has fleas and drinks Jack Daniels like there's no tomorrow," says actress Su Pollard when asked to describe her latest role. 

The former Hi-De-Hi! star is currently playing the part of mean-tempered orphanage matron Miss Hannigan in the rags-to-riches musical Annie, which opens at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre tonight for a week.

"It's a great part, darling," she says breezily. "Hardly any make-up - only takes me five minutes to get ready! 

"But you can't help but feel a bit sorry for her," she adds without stopping for breath. 

"She's frustrated, her brother's always in jail and she listens to the radio to get a bit of respite." 

Talking at a rate of knots, the Nottingham-born actress - with her bubbly persona and excitable manner - is immediately likeable and down-to-earth, yet still not a million miles away from the many slightly zany characters she has played over the years. 

"You've got a great accent," she says, slipping straight away into a perfect mimic of the Black Country dialect before breaking into a fit of laughter. 

"I've really been looking forward to coming to Wolverhampton," she says. 

"Do you know, Joe darling, I had one of my first theatre jobs at the Grand in pantomime when I was 28. You have such a great tradition of theatregoing in Wolverhampton so we're really looking forward to our visit." 

Annie, set just after the Great Depression in 1933 New York, tells the story of an 11-year-old orphan girl who dreams of being rescued and features the songs It's A Hard Knock Life, Easy Street, You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile and Tomorrow. 
"The show is a joy to do. It's enormous darling," Su enthuses. 

"We cried last night in Edinburgh because everyone works so hard and when you see the people's faces light up it's fantastic. 

"It has a happy ending and people don't want doom and gloom," she adds. In Annie, Su stars alongside former 1960s singer-turned-actor Mark Wynter as kindly Daddy Warbucks and Sedgley-born actor Matthew Hewitt, 32, who takes the role of Miss Hannigan's villainous brother, Rooster. 

Youngsters from the Wolverhampton-based Samantha Guinness Drama School will also be appearing as orphans. 

The current tour of Annie - Su's second - also gives her the chance to exercise her deliciously raunchy singing voice. No stranger to musicals, she has appeared in Grease, Godspell, Sweet Charity, Little Shop of Horrors and Me And My Girl down the years as well as being a regular in panto. 

"I always wanted to entertain, ever since I was about four-years-old," she says. 

"Do you know, when I was growing up and if we had visitors my mum would push me forward and say 'Su, you've got to do your party piece' and I would be there in my tap shoes and little frock and sing Can't Buy Me Love by The Beatles." 

Su, now 53 and living in London, made her television debut on Oppor- tunity Knocks in 1974, where her rendition of the song I'm Just A Girl Who Can't Say No from Oklahoma! saw her come second to a singing Jack Russell dog. 

Between 1979 and 1988, she was a regular fixture on our TV screens as scatty maid Peggy in Hi-De-Hi!, which ran for nine series - a total of 58 episodes. 

"I was very lucky to get that part," she says. 

"Everyone working on it looked forward to the script dropping through the letterbox because it was so funny. 

"The writers, Jimmy Perry and David Croft, used to tell us off because we'd be laughing so much while we were trying to film it. 

"I have some great memories from those years and I made a lot of friends. It worked because we all came from theatrical backgrounds so we were able to do the live Hi-De-Hi! tour as well," she adds, again without pausing for breath. 

On the back of Hi-De-Hi's success, Su went on to appear in the popular comedies You Rang M'Lord?, also penned by Perry and Croft, and later Croft's railway comedy Oh, Doctor Beeching! which saw her reunited with old friends Paul Shane and Jeffrey Holland. 

But it is the theatre which remains her greatest love. 

"It's that live moment," says Su excitedly. 

"You get to know your craft better in the theatre and you can perfect it. Also you get that immediate appreciation." 

She is about to go into full flow and elaborate when a sudden Tannoy announcement rings out. 

"Ooh, 'eck! I've got to go for a warm-up," she says with comic fluster. 

"Have you got enough material? Come and have a drink after the show, all right babe? 

"We're absolute party animals you know," she adds with a hint of mischief before departing for her pre-show run through. 

"Bye for now, darling!"

Wolverhampton Express & Star
13th October 2003